Stop the Conversion of Valley State Prison from a Women's to a Men's Prison

"We inside cannot vote. We cannot lobby Sacramento. All we want is to live... Will you hear our pleas for humanity and dignity?" A statement written by women in California's prisons.

Shown in the photo are 550 letters Justice Now has received since the CDCR’s official notice on December 23, 2011 that it would convert VSPW.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is planning to convert Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW) into a men’s prison. Instead of releasing thousands of women who are eligible to go home, CDCR is planning to transfer them to them to the two remaining women’s prisons: Central California Women's Facility and California Institution for Women. This conversion and the crowding of women—including pregnant and elderly women—into facilities that are already far above capacity will intensify by horrific proportions the medical neglect and premature death already rampant in women’s prisons. Cells that were designed to house 4 now house 8 and will house 10; the overflow of people will be packed into day rooms and gyms.

Although California passed an Alternative Custody bill for women in 2010, to date fewer than 20 women have been deemed eligible for release under this bill. Over 700 people at VSPW and CCWF have already signed petitions to stop this conversion plan and the transfer of people in women’s prisons to other overcrowded facilities.

To read a statement written by people in women’s prisons opposed to the conversion and demanding relief, visit www.jnow.org.

Other organizations who endorse this petition are:

All of Us or None, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, San Francisco Bay View newspaper, Redwood Curtain CopWatch, Peoples' Action for Rights and Community, Community Futures Collective, LEF Foundation, Coalition to Free The Angola Three, Solitary Watch, The Real Cost of Prisons Project, California Prison Moratorium Project, Senate Select Community Committee on California's Correctional System, Action Committee for Women in Prison, Prisoners Are People Too, Inc. (Buffalo, NY) and Community Works West.

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Today: California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Justice Now is counting on you

California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Justice Now needs your help with “CA's Gov. Brown, CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate & Judge T. Henderson,: Stop the Conversion of Valley State Prison from a Women's to a Men's Prison”. Join California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Justice Now and 318 supporters today.

Today: California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Justice Now is counting on you

California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Justice Now needs your help with “CA's Gov. Brown, CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate & Judge T. Henderson,: Stop the Conversion of Valley State Prison from a Women's to a Men's Prison”. Join California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Justice Now and 318 supporters today.